Owners Row

Free document

Kansas car bill of sale Do you need one? And what else does Kansas require?

Usually not — the title carries the price. Below: the title signature, the plates, telling the state, and the odometer — each with the source it came from.

Do you need a separate bill of sale?

Usually not — the title carries the price

The assignment on the title does the work when it has a space for the purchase price. If it does not, Kansas requires a bill of sale, page 2 of form TR-12. A useful Kansas option instead: the seller may complete a Power of Attorney, form TR-41, allowing the buyer to complete the assignment. If the title came from another state, or the bill of sale is from an out-of-state owner, the vehicle must be inspected before Kansas will title it. For a gift, complete the Vehicle Gift Certification on form TR-12 and write “gift” in the price space on the title.

Source: Kansas DOR, Titling a used vehicle; Kansas DOR, Title FAQ; forms TR-41 and TR-12

Does the title need a notary or witnesses?

Neither

No notary on the assignment. The back of the title is completed with the purchase price, date of sale, odometer reading and the printed names and signatures of both seller and buyer. Where more than one owner is shown: “and” means all must sign, “or” means either one, and if no connection is printed it defaults to “and”. A lien can be released on the title itself, by a notarized lien release on form TR-150, or by a letter from the lienholder.

Source: Kansas DOR, Titling a used vehicle, checked Oct 12 2026

What happens to the plates?

Off — the right to use it expires

K.S.A. 8-135(a) is blunt: upon transfer of ownership the registration of the vehicle AND the right to use any license plate on it expire, there is no transfer of any registration, and the license plate shall be removed by the owner. So the plate is not merely yours to take — leaving it on means someone is driving with a plate nobody has the right to use.

Source: K.S.A. § 8-135(a)

Do you have to tell the state you sold it?

Optional, $10, and filed online

Kansas offers a Seller's Notification of Sale, form TR-216, filed online through the state's payment portal for a $10 fee. It is for a seller who wants the sale on the Division of Vehicles' record — it creates the presumption that you transferred the vehicle. It is not compulsory, and the statute already expires your registration on transfer. You do not need the form if you transfer or surrender the plate at the county treasurer's motor vehicle office. Pay the $10 if you want the date recorded by someone other than you. If the buyer never registers the vehicle, a seller who filed the form is not liable for damages from its use.

Source: Kansas DOR, Seller's Notice of Sale (TR-216); Kansas DOR, Title FAQ; K.S.A. § 8-135(a) and (c)(12)

Where does the odometer reading go?

On the back of the title

The odometer reading goes on the back of the title alongside the purchase price and date of sale, with both parties printing and signing. Kansas also publishes a standalone Odometer Disclosure Statement, form TR-59, for the cases the title cannot carry. The buyer then has 60 days from the date of purchase to register, or they pay a penalty. Older vehicles are exempt from the mileage disclosure. A 2010 or older model is exempt at 10 years. A 2011 or newer model is exempt at 20 years. Heavy trucks are exempt too.

Source: Kansas DOR, Titling a used vehicle; form TR-59; 49 CFR 580.5(c)

The forms Kansas publishes

  • Seller's Notification of Sale (TR-216) — Optional, $10. Puts the sale on the state's record rather than only yours. Where: ksrevenue.gov → Seller's Notification of Sale. Revision: not confirmed.
  • Power of Attorney (TR-41) — Lets the buyer complete the assignment for you. Where: ksrevenue.gov/pdf/tr41.pdf. Revision: 07/24.
  • Odometer Disclosure Statement (TR-59) — Only where the title itself cannot carry the reading. Where: ksrevenue.gov/pdf/tr59.pdf. Revision: 12/15.

Selling here, registering somewhere else

These are the rules where you are selling, not where the buyer is taking it. The title is signed under Kansas’s rules, and the plate and the notice are yours to handle here.

Registering it and paying tax falls under the buyer’s own state’s rules.

How Kansas compares

Counted from the same answers, for all fifty states.

See how Kansas compares with the other 49 states
  • Kansas is with the majority: no notary or witnesses on the title signature. Only 7 states want one — Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.
  • In Kansas the plates do not go to the buyer. They stay with the vehicle in only 4 states — Alaska, California, Hawaii and Minnesota.
  • Kansas sets no day count for a seller’s notice to the state. 15 states do, from 5 days (California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Washington) to 30 (Florida, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin).

Ready to handle the paperwork?

Get your free documents, set up for a Kansas sale — the bill of sale, and the answers on this page as one printable sheet. Print what you need. Free, no account.

Get my free documents →

What this page is

Every answer above was checked against Kansas’s own published material on Oct 12, 2026. It describes the rules; it is not advice about your sale. State forms get revised — the agency’s current page is what governs.